Improvement in lanterns



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. BRECKENRIDGE, OF VEST MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN LANTERNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,899, dated March 17, 1863.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. BRECKEN- RIDGE, of West Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lanterns; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure l represents an elevation of a portion of a lantern embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 represents a horizontal section of the same at the line x of Fig. l, and Fig. 3 represents a vertical section of thelantern at the line y y of Fig. 2.

It is desirable that lanterns should be constructed in such manner that the wick of the' lamp can be raised or lowered without opening the lantern or removing the lamp therefrom, and various plans have been devised previous to my invention for permitting this operation to be effected.

The object of my invention is to enable a lantern having this feature to be constructed at a small cost, and at the same time to obviate the necessity of any projection upon its exterior for the purpose of permitting the introduction of mechanism that controls the Wick, or of covering over an opening through which that mechanism is manipulated.

To this end the first part of my invention consists in the combination of the head of the shaft which controls the wick with an opening in the lantern-case to admit the fingers and a cup-formed receptacle within the 1antern, the combination being such that, While the said shaft can be operated from without by introducing the fingers through the said opening, the admission of currents of air through said opening sufficient to blow out the light is practically prevented by the receptacle within the lantern.

The special object of the second part of my invention is to permit the receptacle to be permanently secured to the lantern-casc,while the shaft of the mechanism that controls the wick is permanently secured to the lamp; and it consists in constructing said receptacle on the interior of the lantern with a slot through which the head of the shaft of the mechanism that controls the Wick can be introduced, so

that the head, although within the receptacle when the lamp is in place, can be withdrawn therefrom with the lamp.

The third part of my invention` consists in the combination of the said slotted receptacle rtion of the base which is covered by the cup being previously cut away to permit the finger and thumb of the hand to be inserted from without into the receptacle. The receptacle is directly opposite the toothed roller that controls the wick of the lamp. It is perforated with a slot, Z, which has the form of the letter T inverted, the upright portion of the slot being just wide enough to permit the shaft d of the toothed roller that acts upon the wick of the lamp to turn freely in it, and the cross portion of the slot being of a proper size to admit the head f of the shaft. The shaft d is so long that its head f is in the receptacle when the lamp E is in place. The lamp E is arranged to be inserted into the lantern in the usual manner, and is provided with spring clips h h to hold it when in place.

From the above-described construction of the receptacle it is evident that the wick can be raised or lowered by the direct application of the thumb and finger from the exterior of the lantern to the head of the shaft d, which is within the perimeter of the lantern, while at the same time the back of the receptacle prevents the entrance of a strong current of air through the opening in thelantern-case at which the finger and thumb enter, and the size of the slot is too small to practically aect the burning of the dame. Moreover, as the head of the shaft d may be within the perimeter of the lantern-case, the lamp can be inserted and withdrawn without the necessity of making aslot in the base to permit the movement of the shaft. In fact the bottom of the base does not differ in any respect from that of an ordinary lantern from which the lamp must be removed to adj ust the wick.

Instead of constructing the receptacle by applying a cup to the interior of the lantern it may be made byindenting the side of the lantern, and in case the lamp is held in place by a bayonet-fastening, which requires it to be turned after it has been inserted in the lantern. The slot may be formed like the letter T with the stem horizontal, so that the shafthead can be inserted into the receptacle by turning the lamp after it is in the lantern.

In the lantern represented in the drawings the headf of the shaft is Within the perimeter of thelantern When the lamp is in place; but this position of the head is not a necessity of my invention, as the shaft may be made long enough to -cause its head to protrude beyond the perimeter of the lantern provided the opening at the bottom of the lantern and the interior of the base be large enough to' permit the lamp to be inserted obliquely until the head of the shaft is entered into the receptacle.

Although the lantern thus described is, in my opinion, an example of the best form in which I havethus far embodied my invention, I have constructed a lantern which embodies the first and third'part of my invention without the second. In this case a circular cupshaped receptacle was secured permanently to vthe shaft dof the Wick-roller, over the head of thel shaft and with its mouth outward, so that ,the receptacle was Withdrawn from the lantern with the lamp. When then the lamp was Withdrawn, the opening at the side of the lantern was left open, and when thelamp was in place,the admission of air through the opening Was obstructed by the cup-formed receptacle Within the lantern.

Having thus described a lantern embodying my improvements, What I claim as my .invention in lanterns, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. 'Ihe combination of the head ofthe shaft of the mechanism that controls the Wick with an opening in the lantern-case and a receptacle Within the 1antern,the combination,as a Whole, operating substantially as set forth.

2. Constructing the receptacle upon the nterior of the lantern-case With aslot to permit the introduction of the shaft of the mechanism that controls the wick of the lamp, substantial] y as set forth. v

3. The combination of the receptacle Within thelantern with theshaftof theinstrumentthat acts upon the Wick, the Whole operating substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

^ J. II. BRECK'ENRIDGE.

l/Vitnesses:

JOHN IvEs,

E. R. CooPER. 

